1. [Adjective]: limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text; "a literal translation"

2. [Noun]: a mistake in printed matter resulting from mechanical failures of some kind

3. of the clearest kind; usually used for emphasis; "it''s the literal truth"; "a matter of investment, pure and simple"

4. being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something; "her actual motive"; "a literal solitude like a desert"- G.K.Chesterton; "a genuine dilemma"

5. without interpretation or embellishment; "a literal translation of the scene before him"

6. lacking stylistic embellishment; "a literal description"; "wrote good but plain prose"; "a plain unadorned account of the coronation"; "a forthright unembellished style"

7. (of a translation) corresponding word for word with the original; "literal translation of the article"; "an awkward word-for-word translation"

1. exact

2. denotative

3. explicit

4. plain

5. unrhetorical

6. true

1. figurative

2. nonliteral